Wednesday, 7 August 2013

What's Up Wednesday: Ready. Set. Write! #9

What I'm Reading:
Okay, SHADOW AND BONE? Totally worth the hype. Alina is pretty badass, and even though I'm pretty sure the Darkling is a psychopath, I think I'm in love with him.

I picked up a few books from the library, including DO NO HARM by Carol Topolski. I read her book MONSTER LOVE a few years ago and it was amazing. Disturbing and sickening and terrifying, but amazing. Her latest, though? Did not work for me. It skipped backwards and forwards in time, switched between third and first person, between past and present tense, and it did nothing but confuse me. Plus, I found the plot pretty lacklustre.

I needed something excellent after that, and lucky me, because the Amazon fairy delivered the perfect book: PREP SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL by Kara Taylor. I haven't been so excited for a book in forever--I'm a sucker for anything involving prep/private/boarding school, the Upper East Side, rich kids, New England fancy, and/or the Hamptons. PSC has four of those things, plus a murder mystery. I mean, come on. How was I not going to read it?! Which I did all in one go, by the way, because it was that good and I had to know how the mystery unraveled. I cannot wait for the next book, WICKED LITTLE SECRETS--Anne Dowling is my new book bestie, for sure.

What I'm Writing:

Nothing! I haven't written since last Thursday (on purpose) and it's nice to have a break. I did get some good words down before that, though, and I left off in the middle of a scene where I knew I could pick it up easily. (At least, I hope I can.) So my goal this week is only to get back into the swing of things on Monday. And also to map out the next few scenes, because I'm not a plotter, but writing without at least a few notes on what's happening next only leads to trouble. For me. In revisions.

What's Inspiring Me Right Now:
I'm reading a biography/coffee table book about Lucille Ball. She was quite the HBIC. I am crazy inspired by the women of Old Hollywood because of the way a lot of them gamed the system that was supposed to keep them down without anyone ever knowing. People might look on the Marilyns and Veronicas and Avas as just pretty little things, but they were smart in so many ways as well as being wonderfully beautiful. Sigh.

What Else I've Been Up To:
Hanging out with my girls at a tea-tail party. "But what is that?" I hear you ask. Well, a tea-tail party is when you want to drink cocktails but it's the afternoon and you also want a snack. We're nothing if not classy!

{Look at me getitng hammered on...lemonade!}

Now back to enjoying my "holiday" and pretending I'm sitting by a pool somewhere hot. If only.

12 comments:

You definitely need to read SIEGE AND STORM now. Sturmhond is pretty darn great. I've been hearing good things about PREP SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL, so I think I need to get my grabby hands on that one. I think taking a break from writing is so good for the process. It's too easy to get bogged down, to get too close to your story. Just think, when you return you'll be returning with fresh eyes, revived and ready to tackle more of the story. What a great idea to leave it off at a place that's easy to pick up. I'll have to remember that! Have a great week! :-)

Prep School Confidential looks really fun. It's totally going on my TBR list. Also, yay for inspiring old movie stars. Lucille Ball was a comidic genius, even if she did live/work in a time where women weren't supposed to have a voice.

I'm so glad you enjoyed SHADOW AND BONE! I loved it too, and really need to get reading the sequel. Someday very soon hopefully. Your tea-tail party sounds like such a fun idea! I also think it's great that you purposely took a break from writing. Isn't it crazy how it actually takes discipline to peel yourself away from something that really is a type of work? Enjoyable work, but still work. I hope you feel refreshed and that picking up where left off with the writing goes well this week!

That picture of Lucille Ball is stunning -- I can totally see why you're finding her inspirational. She seems like she was a very savvy (and funny!) woman. Of course I had to look up MONSTER LOVE after your mention of it, and sounds freaky. I like my adult fiction dark and disturbing (like Gillian Flynn) so I'll definitely look for this one next time I'm at the library.

Breaks are so important, but easy for us to brush aside. So I'm glad you're taking one and that you're enjoying it! By the way, the tea-tail idea is kind of brilliant! (If only alcohol and I agreed with each other more, hah.)

I finished Siege & Storm not too long ago, and I liked it better than Shadow & Bone! Yay for the Darkling! I know he's so bad, but there's also something so delightful about him. Yeah, I should know better but I kind of love him. ;)